The Panserbjørn's Daemon
by CCGhastly
Summary: What if Lyra was telling the truth about being Iorek's daemon? ONESHOT NON-ROMANTIC


(Things in italics are direct quotes from the book, Iorek and Lyra might be a tad bit OOC. I apologize in advance)

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 **What if Lyra was telling the truth about being Iorek's daemon?**

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 _Above the panting of men, above her own sobs, above the high howl of her daemon, Lyra heard a humming sound, and saw one man (bleeding from his nose) operate a bank of switches. The other two looked up, and her eyes followed theirs_. A great pale silver blade was rising slowly, leaving its dark twin below, it caught the light as it rose and cast a magnificent shine. The last moment of Lyra's complete life was going to be the worst by far, she was sure of it.

Lyra was both right and wrong, while it was the worst moment of her life, it twas not to be her last. She watched the blade come to a rest at the top of the cage and her beloved Pantalaimon fall to the floor, lifeless on his side of the mesh that separated them. As the body of her daemon collapsed Lyra felt something inside her start to collapse, the very thing that drove her to live on and to be curious about just about everything was drifting away, and no matter how hard she tried to grasp onto it and hold tight, it kept slipping through her fingers.

As the golden haired child slowly slumped to the floor, the ghostly essence that was left of Pantalaimon was shooed into a clear container and a nurse came through the left open door bringing in a small ordinary field mouse, not a daemon. For the researchers at Bolvangar had discovered that as a child and its daemon were separated a large flare of Dust appeared, as if from the broken connection, so they sought to harness this flare and see if it was possible to connect a child to an ordinary animal immediately after they were separated from their daemon. They had gone about making a blade opposite of the one made to separate a child from its daemon and installed it into the machine, but they hadn't the chance to test it until now.

The loud hum started up again, this time with the dark blade rising ever so slowly, following in the path of its predecessor. The nurse was having trouble getting the small mouse into its side of the cage, it kept writhing around, and squirming out of her grip, the fact that she was actually quite afraid of mice wasn't exactly helping either, but she was trying her best. "Hurry up woman!" One of the doctors snapped "the blades nearly at the top!" and it was true the black blade was nearly done on its journey and the building energy in the room was so intense, the adults could just about taste it.

Just as the nurse finally got a firm grip on the troublesome mouse, there was a horrible crash and the emergency door leading to the tundra outside flew off its hinges, crushing an unfortunate doctor that was stood a tad too close. Iorek Byrnison charged into the room, sending all the adults scrambling away and crashed into the cage that held Lyra, on the side where Pantalaimon once was, just as the blade reached the top with an explosive force that rocked the entire facility.

Iorek Byrnison awoke to an odd sensation in his mind, it was if he was no longer alone, not that he really knew what alone was until now. There were feelings and faint thoughts pulsing through his brain that were not his own, and he oddly felt a strong connection to them, as if he wanted -no- needed, the being they belonged to safe and close to him at all times.

Ignoring the odd sensation Iorek lurched to his paws, shaking out his fur to be rid of the dust and debris that had fallen from the now destroyed ceiling whilst he was unconscious, and glanced around for any sign of Lyra. The cage was there, buried beneath sparking wires and large chunks of the ceiling, but Iorek couldn't see any sign of the small girl, not even a brief glimpse of her usually shining gold hair.

Lyra was abruptly awakened by a roar, a roar she recognized to be Iorek Byrnison, her armoured bear, her friend. Lyra was aware of a familiar, but at the same time unfamiliar sensation floating about her consciousness, it was familiar in the sense that she was used to sharing a connection with Pantalaimon, but unfamiliar in the way that she was absolutely sure that this presence was not at all her precious Pantalaimon. Suddenly, all the memories of what had just occurred came flooding back to her in a tidal wave of sorrow.

She had lost her daemon. Her Pantalaimon. Who was supposed to be her life companion, and now he was gone. Lost to her. For she could now through a gap in the rubble that covered her prison, that the glass cube that had once held what was left of Pan was now smashed and broken, with no sign of her whispy daemon. At this she broke down and cried, hiding her head in her knees. Disregarding the new presence filling where Pan's used to be in her mind and the fact that she knew that crying was not going to help anything. She cried.

Then the rubble hiding her away shifted and light flooded in. Lyra dragged her head up from her pitiful huddle and was greeted with the sight of a huffing Iorek, who had what looked to be a strong protective spark in his eye. "Iorek!" the child sobbed, hurrying to the front of the now warped, mesh cage "Help! Iorek! They-they took Pan! They k-killed 'im Iorek!" The small girl's speech was littered with sobs and sniffles "They k-killed him, an- an' I don' know what to do! 'Cause 'e's gone, an' I know that 'e's gone! I know it! Bu-but it still feels like 'e's 'ere" The hysterical little one clung to the gaps of the ruined metal, bawling her sorrows to the great bear.

Iorek, on his behalf, handled it quite well. He sliced open what was left of the mesh and lifted out the wailing cub. He sat back and cradled the babe, holding her close and letting her hear his strong heartbeat, all the while consoling the overwhelming grief that was the presence in his mind. For he had figured out that the mysterious feelings were coming from the small being held in his paws, and he had a hunch that whatever she was crying about her daemon had something largely to do with it.


End file.
